


Hypnic

by TheSpaceCoyote



Category: Borderlands, Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Dream Character Death, Dream Violence, M/M, basically Jack has a nightmare, single dad! AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-08
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-07 02:53:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6782452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSpaceCoyote/pseuds/TheSpaceCoyote
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Your basic "Jack has a graphic nightmare and freaks the hell out." </p>
<p>Single Dad!AU side story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hypnic

**Author's Note:**

> I like having dream angst because I can write character death, but it's only temporary and then there's plenty of hurt/comfort opportunity afterwards.

It was so damn dark. 

The colors were undersaturated, washed with greys and blacks as Jack glanced around his surroundings. He vaguely recognized it as his penthouse, the shadows stretching up towards the ceiling like they were diluted with water, dripping against gravity. Jack felt himself swallow against the dread inexplicably pooling in his stomach, his arms and legs weighed down as he tried to move, feet clumping against the shivering floor. He scoured the area, not sure of what exactly he was looking for, but spurred by the swelling dread in his stomach, crawling up his spine, in his head, filling him with fear that he just wanted to tear away—

His bedroom was illuminated, eerie in the glow of Elpis, its light too bright and too high in contrast, hanging like a yawning white hole in the darkness of space behind it. His eyes swung about frantically, blinded by the bright lights and blurry shadows that seemed to swallow up the entire space, when his eyes suddenly fell upon a form laying out on the floor at the foot of his bed. Jack’s brain instantly supplied who it was, eyes frantically tracing over the way the body spasmed and shook, the way muddy patches of blood soaked into their flesh and spread across the floor, the pained cries and whimpers and pleas that echoed through his head—

_Rhys_! Jack heard his own voice distantly, swimming in his ears like the entire room was drowned in thick water, an impediment to reaching Rhys, to  _helping_  him. His arms were thick and sluggish, dragging against space as he collapsed next to the omega’s side, eyes raking about the broken, shaking form, trying in vain to take in the extent of the damage—

The man’s chest and stomach were torn into, shreds of clothing and skin clinging to each other in the thick of the blood welling up from the wounds. Jack’s hand pressed into his abdomen, only to clutch back a moment later upon feeling the jagged, uneven terrain of his flesh and hearing the pained, tearful cry of the omega. Instead he slipped his hands under the man, trying to hold him, trying to keep him close even as he bled and wept and hurt—

_No, no no no no no, kitten, hang on, please—_

Rhys didn’t speak, every time he tried only blood bubbled up, dribbling over the omega’s lips. His entire body trembled and seized, his eyes swinging about as he tried and failed to focus on anything. Jack wanted to move, wanted to get up and get help or at least run, run away so he didn’t have to see or feel Rhys dying in his arms but he was weighted down by the sag of the man’s body. Jack’s mouth was moving, hazy mind struggling to make sense of it all as rage and terror and anguish built up inside him until he felt like he was about to explode, but feeling the omega go limp and watching his eyes close and lips part defused the alpha, making him feel as lost and scared as a child as a whimper passed his lips—

Jack could feel the echo of the noise in his throat but it barely reached his ears, his mouth moving dumbly as he rose away from Rhys’ bloodied corpse and tried to stagger towards the window, aimless and lost, only to nearly trip as his foot smacked into something solid. His neck broke against the sudden, fearful rigor in his body as it craned, his eyes falling on the small form beneath him, lying trembling between his lunging legs— 

Too many cries had already deafened the alpha, so in open-mouthed silence he fell to his knees, hands grasping for the tiny body, pressing over the limp form as his fingers brushed for life, finding it only in the glazed, terrified eyes and the blood and tears leaking down the child’s soft cheeks— 

_Cyrus, Cyrus_! The boy was shaking, sobbing and covered in blood that could have been his own, could have been Rhys’, Jack didn’t know, didn’t understand any of this or why it was happening, just wanting to get Cyrus out and away from the bloodbath that had already claimed his father’s life—

He managed to stand, this time, with Cyrus in his arms, his screams the only thing piercing the thick fog in the alpha’s head, and yet even as Jack tried to move he found his legs sluggish, dragging against the thickness gelling in the air as the shadows in the room bled beyond their already tenuous divides, dragging against the man’s body as he tried to run, only to watch helplessly as Cyrus was swallowed into the darkness, drawn from him petrified fingers and stolen away, his tearful eyes lingering for only a second before they too were devoured—  

Jack woke with a terrorized scream, bedsheets torn and bloodied with cuts from his own palms.

* * *

Rhys didn’t even realize he had fallen asleep on the couch, with Cyrus still resting curled up on top of him, until the loud, rapid bangs on the apartment door had knocked him away. His startled movements nearly woke Cyrus, who made a small little groan and shifted his position, face burrowing into the omega’s belly. Rhys rubbed at his eyes, glancing about trying to search for the source of the noise. Just when he’d thought that maybe he’d dreamed it, it came again, nearly rattling the door from his hinges. Concealing a shocked yelp, the omega carefully displaced Cyrus, nestling the child against the couch and letting him curl into his cuddly Loaderbot pajamas. Rhys approached the door suspiciously, illuminating the dark as his ECHOeye activated, ready to scan whoever was behind it, when a familiar—if hoarser—voice wormed through the metal. 

“Rhysie….please…”

Surprised, Rhys fumbled with the lock and opened the door to see Jack, for the split second before the CEO thudded solidly into his chest, arms wrapping tightly around the omega, the door slamming and auto-locking shut behind him. Rhys let out a puff of air as he stumbled back, trying to balance and take the alpha’s bulk. Jack said nothing further, merely rubbing his face and inhaling deeply along Rhys’ throat, hands pressing up and down the man’s spine, as if reassuring himself with the intact curve of the omega’s body. Confused and slightly dazed from sleep, Rhys scenting the alpha back, kissing Jack’s temple and stroking his sides.

“Jack…I…what are you doing here so late? I mean…if this is about the alpha from last week, you know it’s been taken care of, and he won’t—“

“Nah.” Jack exhaled harsh into the omega’s neck, the hot breath making Rhys’ skin tingle. “Jus’….bad dream…need someone to…figured you’re in the business of this sort of thing…” The chuckle that Jack let out was more of a tight wheeze. 

The omega eventually coaxed Jack over to the couch, where Cyrus was still sleeping. Rhys carefully watched the man sit down beside him, noting the look in the man’s eyes as they glanced over the child’s peaceful form. Careful not to wake Cyrus, Rhys lifted up his boy and settled him in the alpha’s arms, his own hand stroking the child’s hair as he allowed Jack to hold him. Jack seemed grateful, more relaxed and when the tense energy in the alpha’s body finally slipped away, leaving him resting on his side with Cyrus still in his arms, Rhys made sure to wedge himself into the small space remaining between Jack’s body and the back of the couch, tugging a rumpled blue blanket over the three of them before he too fell asleep.


End file.
